The police used truck-mounted water cannons to confront a Youth Congress (YC) march to the Secretariat on Wednesday that turned violent.
The Youth Congress Thiruvananthapuram district committee had taken out the march to protest against the arrest its State president Rahul Mamkootathil sans prior notice while he was allegedly convalescing at home from a head injury allegedly inflicted by the police during an Opposition protest in the capital on December 20.
Former Youth Congress State president Shafi Parambil, MLA, inaugurated the protest. He said the police had arrested Mr. Mamkootathil like an absconding criminal for exercising his democratic right to dissent in a peaceful manner. Mr. Parambil, the third accused in the case, dared the police to arrest him.
Mr. Parambil also slammed Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] State secretary M.V. Govindan for suggesting that Mr. Mamkootathil lacked the courage of conviction to undergo judicial remand. He vainly sought bail on a non-existent medical condition. He said Mr. Govindan should understand that the Students Federation of India (SFI) operated in the shade of power. The police gave SFI leaders the kid’s glove treatment. At the same time, they brutalised Youth Congress and Kerala Students Union workers at Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s behest.
Mr. Parambil accused the government of pressurising the Resident Medical Officer (RMO) at General Hospital here to give a certificate negating Mr. Mamkootathil’s medical condition and fraudulently judging that the Youth Congress State president was fit for incarceration.
Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan, who is the first accused in the December 20 rioting case, said the police had arrested an ailing Mr. Mamkootathil in the presence of his mother and sister. “They barged into the house and dragged Mr. Mamkootathil out of his bedroom,” he said.
Mr. Satheesan accused Mr. Vijayan of unleashing the police and the CPI(M), Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) and the SFI activists to stifle democratic dissent. “DYFI workers confronted the YC workers who staged black flag protests against the Chief Minister’s cavalcade with iron rods, helmets, and flower pots. The Chief Minister justified the violence and egged the cadres on,” Mr. Satheesan said.
